In a lot of ways, the internet is the Wild West of entertainment and information.
Compared to some of the more established forms of media – like television, movies, print
news media, and books – the internet is still in its infancy.
One form of creation seemingly native to the internet is the art of the meme – a typically
funny unit of shared cultural information endlessly modified and repeated by its audience.
From the image macros of yore to the modern phenomenon of deep-fried madness , it’s
clear that the internet loves a good meme.
Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, is not a fan.
That’s right – the 67-year-old KGB agent turned prime minister turned President of
the Russian Federation has shown the world his inner boomer by declaring war on memes.
Well, not all memes – some legislation passed by Russian parliament last year gives the
Russian authorities sweeping powers to fine, arrest, and even jail citizens who post “disrespectful”
content about Russian state officials online – including, of course, President Vladimir
Putin.
This law even extends towards internet memes judged to be seditious on an extremely flexible
set of criteria.
Who would have guessed a man known for often assassinating his critics, like Boris Nemtsov
and Anna Politkovskaya, wouldn’t be able to take a joke?
Though interestingly, an inability to take joking criticism has actually been a running
theme in Putin’s political career.
After coming to power, one of his first acts was to ban a satirical television puppet show
called Kukly for previously depicting him as an angry, profane gnome.
The anti-meme legislation of 2019 feels like a natural extension of that same attitude
towards any kind of critical jokes.
The legislation was introduced by Russian Senator Andrei Klishas, on behalf of the United
Russia Party – led by, of course, Vladimir Putin.
The law comes on the tail of Putin’s national trust ratings dropping to 33%, a thirteen
year low for the controversial President.
The legislation has numerous critics in Russian parliament – such as lawyer Sergey Shvakin,
who joked “Soon we’ll be telling jokes about the authorities in whispers in the kitchen”
on his Facebook profile.
Opposing Russian politicians also haven’t minced words, saying that the laws are a form
of blanket censorship meant to stamp out any form of criticism.
Even Sergei Ivanov, a member of parliament from the typically Putin-aligned nationalist
LDPR party, said of the new laws, “If we stop calling a fool a fool, he won’t stop
being a fool.”
However, seeing as Putin has the final say on what gets signed into law, none of these
criticisms really mattered beyond paying lip service to the opposition.
What exactly happens if you defy Putin’s internet censorship laws?
Well, for your first offense, you could be fined as much as 100,000 rubles – which
is about $1,323.
For your second offense, you can be fined double this, and potentially face fifteen
days inside a Russian jail.
That’s enough to discourage anyone from posting their favourite meme at Putin’s
expense, even if it does seem like an insane overreaction on the government’s part.
This opens up a few interesting questions: First of all, what is a meme, really?
Secondly, why might a world leader willing to poison people with polonium be afraid of
some stupid internet jokes?
And finally, what specific memes does Putin deem worthy of suppression?
Thankfully, these are all questions we can answer here.
Though if anyone working for this channel dies mysteriously in the next few days, well,
you know who to ask about that.
So, memes, let’s get to the bottom of this ubiquitous internet trend.
It might interest you to know that the concept of the meme actually predates the internet
as we know it by quite some time.
The expression was first coined by well-known scientist and academic Richard Dawkins – of
The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion fame.
Memes, in their most basic sense, are ideas that spread – they can be actions, ideologies,
words, behaviours, and media.
Almost anything can become a meme.
From the musical stylings of the band Smash Mouth to a stock image of a distracted boyfriend
to urban legends about hook-handed mental patients.
While this might seem like we’re overthinking the latest memes trending on Reddit’s front
page, the idea is essentially the same as it was for Dawkins.
In his own words, “Memes are to culture what genes are to life.
Just as biological evolution is driven by the survival of the fittest genes in the gene
pool, cultural evolution may be driven by the most successful memes.”
And from here, you begin to understand why someone like Vladimir Putin has an aversion
to internet memes making fun of him.
Putin hates memes for the same reason Chinese President Xi Jinping banned comparisons between
him and the popular cartoon character Winnie the Pooh, and Spain attempted to ban images
that “infringe the honour of a person”: Memes spread.
And just like Dawkins said, a meme – in the sense of a cultural idea – that spreads
far enough has the power to hijack a cultural conversation.
While this might not even occur to a normal individual like you or me, Putin has a good
reason to be concerned about this.
And that’s because of a surprising fact about Putin and his inner circle: They’re
marketing geniuses.
That’s right.
You may associate Putin and his government more with raw, brutal strength than public
relations prowess, but that’s only because that’s exactly what they want you to think.
Everyone’s seen the ridiculous photo ops of Putin riding a horse shirtless , or doing
judo , or swimming with dolphins.
These images became memes in and of themselves, but that was by design.
While most people may see and share these images and videos under the assumption that
they’re hilarious – which, to be fair, they are – they’re also playing into Putin’s
hands.
That’s because, while they make Putin look a little silly, they also make him look strong.
Putin and his team have taken great pains to project an image of strength, leadership,
and masculinity for Vladimir Putin, using everything from heavily engineered photo ops
to extremely unsubtle messages in Russian pop music.
Russian pop duo Singing Together released the hit song “A Man Like Putin”, with
lyrics like: “I want a man like Putin, who's full of strength.
I want a man like Putin, who doesn't drink.
I want a man like Putin, who won't make me sad.”
With lyrics that flattering, it’s a little hard to believe that someone from the Putin
team didn’t have a hand in the writing process.
What we’re saying here is: Putin and his associates have been using memes for decades
to project the idea of Putin as a strong, feared leader, and to some extent, this campaign
has worked like a charm.
So, it stands to reason that if a robust meme campaign can help keep Putin in power, an
equally strong meme offensive can take him down a peg.
Because memes, by nature, have a tendency to spread, it benefits the Russian government
to introduce legislation that gives them carte blanche to nip potentially harmful memes in
the bud.
You’re probably wondering: What kind of memes can put you in the crosshairs of the
Russian government?
Importantly, none, if you live outside of Russia.
However, if you’re a Russian citizen, you’d be surprised by the sheer number of memes
considered defamatory or even extremist by Russia’s internet censorship laws.
In fact, Russia actually has a list of over 4,000 different images deemed to be “extremist”,
and grounds for both censorship and even criminal investigation.
We obviously don’t have time to go through all of them, but let’s take a look at some
notable examples, and case studies of people prosecuted under these restrictive laws.
First, the strange case of Maria Motuznaya, a 23-year-old Siberian internet user whose
choice of memes landed her in some serious hot water.
The scene of the supposed crime was VKontakte, or VK, Russia’s most popular social media
website.
Maria wasn’t exactly a hardcore revolutionary – she just thought she was posting a few
funny memes three years ago, many of which she wouldn’t even have posted now.
Still, this juvenile decision had suddenly landed her with the threat of six years in
prison under charges of hate speech.
The same can be said for nineteen-year-old Daniil Markin, whose VK meme posting habits
were deemed similarly illegal under Russia’s internet censorship laws.
What were the two memes that ended up dunking these two Russian citizens into hot water?
One was of a group of nuns smoking, with the bottom text reading “Quick, while God isn’t
looking!”
The other was a traditional image of Jesus Christ, except with the face of the character
Jon Snow from Game of Thrones photoshopped over it.
These two images were perceived as being slander towards the Russian Orthodox Church, a powerful
religious institution with close ties to the Russian government, and by extension, Vladimir
Putin.
Posting these memes got Maria and Daniil placed on a list typically reserved for genuine terrorists.
Of course, with the Russian government’s history of making politically inconvenient
people disappear through jailing and even extrajudicial assassinations, Maria and Daniil
were left in a state of perpetual fear for their lives and freedom.
This, incidentally, is precisely the point of the legislation.
In 2017, 411 criminal cases were raised against internet users for the content of their posts.
While this doesn’t seem like much, it has the wider implication of striking fear into
the heart of anyone who feels like making some dissenting internet memes.
But the law covers far more than memes with religious connotations.
The legislation is so broad that any meme that can be perceived as misrepresenting the
actions or personality of the subject – even if it’s fully and clearly intended in jest
– are grounds for removal and potentially even litigation.
One example is a very basic meme made of Russian musician Valeri Syutkin, where a picture of
Valeri was coupled with meme text of profane lyrics from another artist’s song.
This was apparently too much for Valeri to take, as he sued the Wikipedia-esque website
where the image was published and won.
The legislation also gives the Russian government the power to unilaterally block websites without
any public investigation or due process.
They also put measures in place to force bloggers to register their blogs under their own legal
name, essentially making anonymous blogging illegal.
The meme control laws also have a degree of sinister crossover with some of Russia’s
other controversial laws around homosexuality.
During Russian human rights protests, a certain image – later referred to as the “Gay
Clown” meme, depicting Putin wearing heavy makeup against a colourful backdrop – was
born.
Naturally, the Russian government attempted to ban the image immediately.
However, this just resulted in increased proliferation of the image due to the suppression attempt
drawing national and international attention.
This is known as “The Streisand Effect.”
Any memes depicting Vladimir Putin as gay, or committing homosexual acts, are incredibly
illegal – and a number of variations on the iconic “Gay Clown” image make up a
surprising portion of the several thousand officially banned memes.
Others include images of Putin as a standard birthday party clown, images of Putin passionately
kissing US President Donald Trump , and even a video of Putin declaring himself to be gay
set to jaunty music, complete with a cameo from the South Korean musician Psy, known
for his hit song Gangnam Style.
Pretty much anyone could look at these examples and see something incredibly silly – Definitely
not the kind of thing a world leader should be wasting his time on.
But, for all the reasons we’ve discussed in this video, it’s really not that simple,
is it?
For the United Russia party, the myth of Vladimir Putin is just as valuable as the man himself.
When people think of Putin, and of Russia in general, they think of a powerful, unyielding
force - an image that comes as a result of a carefully cultivated propaganda campaign
played out over decades.
The real power of memes, and the reason some of them will get you fined or even arrested
in Russia, is that they prove that even a random internet user holds the power to bring
all that expensive state propaganda crashing down.
Want some more fascinating videos about Russia?
Check out “Russian Stereotypes” and “How Russia Can Launch Nukes From Beyond The Grave.”
In the meantime, enjoy your memes!
While you can…